Some crazy wacky facts about Wall of Voodoo:
- Early '80's band based in Los Angeles
- Signed to IRS Records and released "Dark Continent" and "Call of the West"
- Lead singer Stanard Ridgway left the band after "Call of the West" and they continued to record, with a new lead singer, under the same name
- Did soundtracks to early '80's porn films, like maybe, "Cafe Flesh."
- Porn film director Stephen Sayadian "styled" the cover of "Call of the West" and probably directed the video for "Mexican Radio." Stephen is one of my major "visual" influences. Does anyone know where he is or if he is still alive???
- Toby (see link to the right) and I saw them in a tiny little underground club on April 30th, 1983 in Raleigh, NC. We could not afford tickets ($6.00 or something) since we were freshmen in college and had already spent our textbook money on their album. Toby won tickets to see them on WKNC, the campus radio station. Divine Providence. We immediately went to K-Mart and stole plastic dinosaurs because we had read in Trouser Press that Marc Moreland, the guitarist, collected them. We hung out with the band for an hour while they packed up and drank Heineken’s. Marc loved the dinosaurs and told the keyboardist, Chas T. Grey to not "rip them off" of him.
- Marc Moreland is dead. He "passed away March 13, 2002 from complications following a liver transplant."
- Joe Nanini, the drummer, is dead. He "died on December 4, 2000 because of a brain hemorrhage."
- I returned a call to Mark Poutenis tonight (see link at right) and he confirmed THE love of WOV. Mark is the truth. Just like Keith on "Gimme Shelter" and I do not throw that shit around lightly.
See, it's crazy when one of your formative records comes back to haunt you and actually turns out to be good. Fuck that, "Call of the West" is a masterpiece.
Wall of Voodoo mean something to me. And it's just time and place. I spent four hours on www.youtube.com tonight watching Stan and company perform from 1982-83 and I loved it.
The photo is the back of "Call of the West." Mine. Autographed by Stan, Chas, and two dead guys...
I wish I had taken that photo.
If you are a band, and you are as good as Wall of Voodoo, and you want me to take your photo, call me.
Shit. I feel old…
3 comments:
Stan Ridgway was quite popular in Europe after he left Wall of Voodoo. I own a few of his albums. His voice is unlike anybody else's, and I love the wit of his lyrics. Guess I'm old too.
We have a "mix" of 80s songs (yes..we are stuck) and include 2 WOV tunes among the many Talk Talk, Simple Minds, (one of my favs) and many others (all MP3 (yep..we're lazy) and plays randomly. Usually every Sat night, often after a photoshoot, we dim the lights in the studio, kick on the killer sound system, fire up the Haze machine, turn on the lasers and pin spots...and listen to 80s music (and sometimes Funk..big Funk fan too) and drink the night away and often crash in the studio as opposed to staggering back to the house. Use to have a stripper pole set up, but I gave it to some close friends, they are going to replace it with one with a small stage.
bt
Ah, the old days at the Pier at the Cameron Village Underground. I always think of that place when I dig up the WOV tape. Guess it's better feeling old than not feeling anything at all...
Chris P.
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